How do we think about vendors? Let me count the ways....

How do we think about vendors? Let me count the ways....

I've recently read a series of articles on Linux desktop options, on Sun's Java Desktop, and on Apple as an alternative desktop. Most of the articles compared OS functionality and the cost per user. What most of the writers don't seem to understand is that, for most of us, a desktop OS is simply the platform on which we run the Microsoft Office suite.

Managing risk is one of the keys to success in an outsourcing arrangement, and companies use many control mechanisms to manage risk in outsourcing deals. These control mechanisms can range from full-scale contract offices, project management offices, metrics, scorecard reporting, audits, CMMI assessments, and onsite oversight teams, or any combination of these.

Managing risk is one of the keys to success in an outsourcing arrangement, and companies use many control mechanisms to manage risk in outsourcing deals. These control mechanisms can range from full-scale contract offices, project management offices, metrics, scorecard reporting, audits, CMMI assessments, and onsite oversight teams, or any combination of these.

I've recently read a series of articles on Linux desktop options, on Sun's Java Desktop, and on Apple as an alternative desktop. Most of the articles compared OS functionality and the cost per user. What most of the writers don't seem to understand is that, for most of us, a desktop OS is simply the platform on which we run the Microsoft Office suite.

I've recently read a series of articles on Linux desktop options, on Sun's Java Desktop, and on Apple as an alternative desktop. Most of the articles compared OS functionality and the cost per user. What most of the writers don't seem to understand is that, for most of us, a desktop OS is simply the platform on which we run the Microsoft Office suite.

Most IT organizations today are struggling with the same problem: how to be more agile, responsive, and competitive. When we look at the companies that excel in these areas, we notice some similarities. First, these companies have taken an overall enterprise-wide approach to defining their business processes and the IT infrastructure needed to support them. Underlying and unifying the IT infrastructure is a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Second, these companies have implemented changes in their business and development organizations to support this new approach.

In a recent Cutter Consortium Enterprise Architecture E-Mail Advisor, I discussed IBM's Workplace Client Technology.1 As a cosponsor of SOAP, UDDI, BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), and its growing server suite WebSphere (which includes a wide variety of utilities including business process modeling facilities derived from its acquisition of Holosofx), IBM is clearly working hard to lay the groundwork for and encourage investment in SOA.

There is currently a lot of excitement over SOA, which many vendors and analysts are talking up as the next big thing in enterprise IT. Although consensus is lacking as to its exact nature, there is a strong feeling that an SOA is a good thing to have and that organizations should be making plans to implement one. In fact, depending on which definition you go by, quite a few organizations may already have an SOA up and running.

The business principle behind SOA is to build up a collection of small, independent services that can be quickly and easily combined in a variety of ways into different, higher-level business services. This is what gives an enterprise the agility to offer new services and to respond to competitive pressures.

I was recently presenting some recommendations on architectural direction and strategy to senior staff and one of the business line managers asked a very good question: "What value does this service-oriented architecture approach give me?" Specifically, he meant business value -- or in other words, put the IT recommendations into business terms. This is always a challenge for IT, but I think I hit upon a good explanation with the following scenario.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has been on the IT buzzword bestsellers' list for as long as any other phrase I can remember. Over the past 10 years, there have been prominent examples of enterprises that have successfully implemented SOAs and have achieved substantial advantages, including reduced costs and improved competitiveness. Unfortunately, such examples are not commonplace because implementing a successful SOA is difficult. However, when successful, the promise and business benefits of SOA are undeniably compelling.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has been on the IT buzzword bestsellers' list for as long as any other phrase I can remember. Over the past 10 years, there have been prominent examples of enterprises that have successfully implemented SOAs and have achieved substantial advantages, including reduced costs and improved competitiveness. Unfortunately, such examples are not commonplace because implementing a successful SOA is difficult. However, when successful, the promise and business benefits of SOA are undeniably compelling.